In our ever evolving on-demand society it’s no surprise that consumers have expectations for instant availability. Blame it on the drive-through, blame it on being “Primed”, but we can’t ignore the fact that instant fulfillment is a necessity in order to capitalize on this “Primed” market’s demand as quickly as possible.
Traditional garment decorators have had to offer printing services that are effectively lagging, ever trying to catch up with demand with lead times that can cause friction in the customer lifecycle. This is sustainable for certain kinds of customers, but not all markets.
Catering to a “Primed” Market
Garment decorators eager to cater to the “Primed” markets, have to remain agile & effectively scale up or down to meet the market demands, without risking overextension. Profitability in this business model hinges on the efficiencies of production, and being able to scale up or down with the fewest amount of variable inputs. Labor is one of those inputs that can get extremely costly in a cost competitive market. Production that leverages automation and new forms of technology will remain the most competitive and attractive for “Primed” fulfillment.
Production solutions in garment decoration have seen some major changes with the rapid advances in Direct To Garment print technology. These solutions tend to fall into two capability classifications.
Models for “Primed” Production
The first being a fragmented, or non-linear production model that requires multiple steps of production. This is seen with numerous separate production steps to pre-treat, print, then cure a printed garment. An advantage to this model is that these solutions tend to have a lower up-front cost, and as a result you see these complementing existing shops or new market entrants eager to get into garment decoration with the least barriers of entry. These solutions tend to not as equipped for efficient production, remaining reliant upon multiple steps of production and lots of associated extra labor costs, which can lead to being priced out of a “Primed” market.
The second model classification of DTG production is a linear model that has virtually all steps of production in-line where an operator can load a blank garment, and unload the then nearly finished printed garment with all modes of application fully automated. Effectively operating at a controllable speed and scale, cognizant and mindful of actual real time demand. This in-line model is typically seen with the tried-and-true efficient production capabilities of an oval or carousel screen printing platform. This foundation incorporates modern technology for shirt prep, pretreat application & curing, digital ink printing, and post printing curing. Effectively creating an in-line automated digital factory for decorating garments. The future is ROQ Now.
The Future of “Primed” production is ROQ Now
The ROQ Now is the linear-model of modern large scale production benefitting garment decorators needing to offer “Primed” instant fulfillment at scale. This is not going to be the solution for all types of garment decorators or markets, rather a small niche. But it is worth noting that this is only a temporary state, because the technology will continue to evolve and cater to contract printing, as well as other types of markets. The ROQ Now technology is a glimpse into the future of garment decoration, as the technology gets more sophisticated and compact there will be solutions for more of the greater garment decoration market.
Click here to learn more about the ROQ Now, or the full family of future proof ROQ Solutions for the garment decoration markets here.